Grady Warren: Racist Tea Bagger for President

Posted without comment. . .



Okay, he's a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot. And a racist homophobe. And he's nuts. And vile. That (almost) covers it. Done now.

Weekend Protest in Madison, Wisconsin Outdraws Biggest Tea Party

And not a teabag to be found. Image from source, Think Progress

If you still believe there's a "liberal media," ask yourself this. Why can a union protest in Wisconsin have more people than any tea party ever has, and you probably didn't hear about it? Yes, I'm aware that the ongoing tragedies in Japan are taking up most of the news time. But if 100,000 tea baggers were on the White House lawn on Saturday, they would have put it on the news.

[Excerpt]

Madison Rally Bigger Than Biggest Tea Party Rally



Police estimated up to 100,000 people turned out in Madison, WI yesterday to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) assault on unions, making it bigger than any protests the city has witnessed, even those during the Vietnam War. The Madison rally is part of a much larger Main Street Movement of average Americans demanding fairness in labor laws, social spending, and taxation. . .
 
Read more at: Think Progress

The Truth About the Tea Parties (Steven Weber)

When I started this blog, we were deep into the waning years of the second Bush Administration.  I was deeply frustrated, and wanted to scream out loud my point of view, which seemed to have no--or very little--place in American discourse.  The tone shifted abruptly with the run up to the 2008 election, and immediately after.  How refreshing it was to not only have my side represented again, but to feel like things were returning to sanity.  I knew (and wrote about here) that the conservatives wouldn't take defeat lying down.  I knew that they'd be on the attack from day one of the new Obama Administration.

I didn't count on all the crazy and all the stupid.  I thought Bush was the end game of those categories. Who could predict the vague but angry tea baggers?  The birthers, the deathers? The growing popularity of Sarah Palin? Sharron Angle? Christine O'Donnell?  I worry about the country being plunged into a new political era that is stupider, crazier, and more dangerous than the eight years that just about drove me around the bend.  That's why I'm glad there are shows like Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Real Time with Bill Maher.  At least I can see that somebody out there sees what I see.  And then there is Steven Weber, the actor and blogger at Huffington Post that always seems to write what I'm thinking, with a wit and style that I can only aspire to.  Here is his latest piece, which I wish I'd written.

[Excerpt]

"They", Tea and Me

. . .See, "they"---that is, the corporate behemoths intent on creating a nation of mindless consumers---are doing to We The People what they also do periodically to foreign countries with phlegm-producing names and brownish people who wear weird headdresses and who have something we want: weaving a fictional scenario in which said foreign peoples are demonized and dehumanized in order to elicit a gut (and therefore thoughtless) response from We The People so We The People will do what "they" want. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Christine O'Donnell and Tea Party NOT a New Phenomenon

As liberal radio host Randi Rhodes often says, "there is nothing new under the sun."  Despite all the attention the tea baggers have gotten over the last year and a half (largely due to their outrageous costumes, signs and statements), they are not a new phenomenon.  These people are the base of the Republican party and always have been.  They're the people who thought George W. Bush did a heckuva job (even if they distance themselves from him now). They're the ones who made Sarah Palin a rock star.  The difference now is that they've got tea bags hanging from their tri-cornered hats.

The other difference of course is that rather than being fringe rabble rousers, they are now front-and-center in the conservative movement. They were always courted and pandered to by establishment Republicans, but they were never supposed to become the driving force of the GOP.  They are a Frankenstein's monster, and were it not for the fact that they may lay waste to the countryside in much the same way, they'd be very entertaining to watch.

The most disturbing aspect of this turnover of the conservative pond, is the mixing of religion and politics, and the anti-gay, anti-Muslim, xenophobic rhetoric that comes with it.  It's always been around, spoken through megaphones of varying volumes, but now it is central to the mainstream conservative message.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Impossible to be a "Tea Partier" and a Racist?

WTF? Really? I know this video is a few days old, but who believes it is impossible to be a tea bagger and a racist at the same time? REALLY? C'mon. . .

Crayola Thanks the Tea Baggers!

Yeah, yeah, it's a parody. But it's funny!

Imagine a World Where the Tea Party Was a Black Thing

The first time I heard this concept was on The Karel Show, a talk radio program out of San Francisco.  I was a little gobsmacked, because I hadn't heard the idea before. But really, imagine it. An angry, organized, gun-toting protest, made up of mostly black people. Do you think Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh would be for such a thing?

[Excerpt]

"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise

Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins. . .

Read more at: Ephphatha Poetry by way of AmericaBlog.com

The Over-Inflated Importance of the Tea Party Movement

Image from source, Politico

I've done my share of posts on the tea baggers, and I've given my reasons why--even though I believe they're a fringy group that thrives on publicity--I've continued to cover them.  It's kind of fun (and they throw a fit about the "bagger" tag. . .tough).  But the time has come to say loudly, this is a fringe movement. They have managed to drag in some mainstream (kinda) politicians, but their cheerleaders are the usual suspects: faux grassroots organizations like Freedom Works; FOX "News"; right-wing talk radio, and arch conservative websites like FreeRepublic.  In other words: the Republican base. Period.

These are the dead-enders, the 20-25%ers who think George W. Bush was a heckuva guy. The same people who swoon at every nonsensical utterance of Sarah Palin.  Can they be a factor in November? Possibly.  It is traditional for the President's party to lose Congressional seats in the first mid-term. But if they hadn't coalesced into the Tea Party, they'd still be there.  Only this way, they hold hilariously misspelled signs, dangle tea bags off their hats, and generally look (and act) like idiots. Bonus!


[Excerpt]


The tea party's exaggerated importance

2009 was the year when many journalists concluded they were slow to recognize the anti-government, anti-Obama rage that gave birth to the tea party movement.

2010 is the year when news organizations have decided to prove they get it. 
And get it. And get it some more. . .

Read more: Politico

Tea Baggers in Their Own Words.

Oh, my. . .



Found at: Joe.My.God.

More Tea Party Madness: Chicago

My most recent post (What Happens in Vegas: Tax Day Tea Party a Dainty Affair) was about the paltry turnout for the tax day tea party here in Las Vegas. I found this writeup on Chicago's event entertaining reading, and thought you might as well. [Plus, I'm still test-driving my new blogger software and working out the kinks. It would seem that FireFox is the only reliable browser to write on at the moment. And even that is a little hinky.]

[Excerpt]

Tea Party 'revolt' looks like a pity party to me 

'Chicago Tax Day Tea Party," read the colorful card handed to me as I emerged from Union Station into the soft, summery day Thursday.

"Liberty" it continued, in spidery, colonial-era script. "Constitutional Principles. Fiscal Responsibility." Then, in bright-red type -- the blood of patriots, no doubt -- "Repeal it! Replace Congress." And finally: "Chicago. Daley Plaza. 12:00 Noon. . ."

Read more at: Chicago Sun-Times

What Happens in Vegas: Tax Day Tea Party a Dainty Affair

Image from source, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Yeah, I said "dainty." I'm sorry, that's what I think of when I think of "tea parties," a little girl's pretend soiree in the backyard.  And the recent tax day tea bagger rally in Las Vegas doesn't seem to have been much more than that.  Sunset Park, it should be noted, used to be the annual site of the Las Vegas Gay Pride celebration, which drew around 10 times the amount of people as the tax day thing. And this was years ago, when our population was smaller. Feel free to throw back the "dainty" at me in a slur if you want, but our crowd could've kicked this crowd's ass.

Anyway, I'm only getting around to this story on the weekend because, frankly, it didn't make much of a buzz here locally. That isn't too surprising given the tiny crowd, but isn't this allegedly "grass roots" movement supposed to be formidable?  More and more, I'm thinking the tea baggers are as much "booga-booga" as the PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass) who threatened to shut down Barack Obama's victory out of their Hillary Clinton-supporting spite.

[Excerpt]

Conservative Nevada candidates tap Tea Party ire

Read it at: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Tax Day: Best One Ever?

Image from source, Newsweek

For all of the tax day tea party rallies (poorly attended, it would seem), taxes must have really gone up since President Obama took office. Right? Apparently not.

[Excerpt]

Today Is the Best Tax Day of Your Life

Almost nobody likes tax day, but people may look back nostalgically on tax day 2010 and those of earlier years because, almost certainly, taxes are going up in the future, and they may go up a lot. With hindsight, tax day 2010 may seem almost dreamy. . .

Read more at: Newsweek

Tea Party Express Created as a Political Ploy?

It won't matter one whit to the tea baggers that one of their biggest organizations is a craven political ploy to enrich a few conservatives. How do I know this? Because no matter what stupid thing is said or done by the 'baggers, or by "leaders" like Sarah Palin, they love them all the more. Glenn Beck can say he doesn't give a damn about politics, only the money. . .and they love him more than ever. It makes no kind of sense, but when do these people ever make sense?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tea Party Warns: No "Pre-Gaming" Before Event

Image from source, TPMMuckraker

In other words, no alcohol or drugs before the event. So, let me get this straight. Does that mean the crazy teabaggers are actually going to be off their meds? And on a side-note, yes I'm from Columbus, Ohio. And yes, I'm embarrassed.

[Excerpt]

Tea Party Warns Members: No Pre-Gaming!

In a mass email sent out last night to the supporter list of the Columbus Tea Party and obtained by TPMmuckraker, leaders of the group issued a set of "do's and dont's" for protesters attending an April 15 Ohio State House event -- chief among them: absolutely no pre-gaming.

Specifically, the email warns those planning to attend the "Tax Day" event, "No alcohol (or other mood-enhancer) or pre-drinking. . ."

Read more at: TPMMuckraker

Tea Bagger Candidate for NY Mayor in Hot Water for Emails

Oops.

[Excerpt]

Tea Party Darling Running For NY Governor In Hot Water For Forwarding Racist, Sexually Explicit E-mails



Odien released e-mail pictures that supposedly show Miss France having sex with a man, a photo of dancing African tribesmen entitled “Obama Inauguration Rehearsal,” a photo of President Obama and the first lady doctored to simulate a 1970s pimp and prostitute, and an e-mail showing chimpanzees doing an Irish dance entitled “proof the Irish discovered Africa. . .”

Read more at: Think Progress

Rupert Murdoch: FOX "News" Shouldn't Promote Tea Baggers?

Really, Rupert? Y'mean that?

Palin on the Prairie: Tea Baggers in Rock Ridge!

I already used the "Welcome, Sheriff" clip from Blazing Saddles to depict the right-wing response to the election of President Barack Obama. It's funny, but it's apt. What I'd forgotten is how much the Rock Ridge council meeting looks like a tea bagger rally! There's even a frontier version of Sarah Palin to rile up the crowd!

Tea Baggers: The Phantom Menace?

Image from source, The Daily Beast

The article excerpted below asks a very relevant question: is all the hype about the Tea Party movement just a lot of hot air? It's a good point. Remember before the 2008 election, how the "Pumas" were thought to be Barack Obama's Achilles heel? They turned out to be a paper tiger, utterly irrelevant in the scheme of things.

Here in Nevada, the 'baggers descended upon Sen. Harry Reid's tiny home town of Searchlight last weekend, and you'd have thought it was the largest political rally ever held. Baloney. There were more people at the Obama events I attended here in '08. Shoot, I'll bet there will be as many people in the crowd at this weekend's final Las Vegas Wranglers hockey game of the season. They're loud, they're colorful, and they can't spell worth a shit (TeaBonics: Crazy Tea Bagger Signs). But do they matter?

[Excerpt]

The Tea Party's Phantom Menace

For all the fountains of vitriol and frantic media coverage aimed at the Tea Partiers, the movement doesn’t have the money or sophistication to win anything, much less roll back the new health-care law.

Health-care reform, student-loan reform, momentum building toward significant financial reform—yet, day after day, all we seem to read about are the dangers the Tea Party supposedly poses to the republic. . .

Read more at: The Daily Beast

A Tea Bagger Felony? The Hell You Say!

Image from source, CNN

I've said all along that the tea baggers are a big hot mess. A confused, misinformed, ignorant ball of crazy and/or stupid. Every time a video pops up on the YouTubes, this is confirmed. They're angry, but they have no idea what they're angry about. Beyond talking points, few can articulate what the whole movement is about. They're good at pumping each other up, reciting the scribblings from Glenn Beck's chalk board, and stoking each other's fire. Sooner or later, something bad was bound to happen. Of course this story has little to do with the anger and fear, but it does show a bit of the scruples involved.

[Excerpt]

Tea Party candidate might face felony charge

He's new to politics and learning fast just how rough a sport it can be.

Scott Ashjian, the Tea Party candidate running for Senate in Nevada, could soon face a felony charge. . .

Read more at: CNN

Thanks again to Stupid Monkey Planet for the link.

Scott McClellan & David Frum: Tea Parties Bad for GOP

OK, so there are two rational, sane conservatives. Anyone else? Anyone?



Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for the link.